


We’ll Be Okay

by Violett92



Series: Us Against The World [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: And More Angst, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But only a little, F/M, Gabriel Agreste’s A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Reveal, Triple reveal?, Two major character deaths, angst angst angst, but only one stays dead, double reveal, ladrien, will probably make into a series later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21803236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violett92/pseuds/Violett92
Summary: Ladybug recruits Rena Rouge and Carapace to get revenge on Hawk Moth.Gabriel Agreste chose the wrong bug to cross.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Us Against The World [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039138
Comments: 16
Kudos: 262





	We’ll Be Okay

**Author's Note:**

> I shouldn’t even bother saying t at this point, but here’s another 3am fic. Sorry, this one’s full of angst—
> 
> With happy ending!

Ladybug felt hollow as she held out the two wooden boxes, carved with markings any Miraculous user would recognize. Alya And Nino stood before her, their usually excited smiles down turned to exhausted frowns. “I’m going after Hawk Moth,” she explained, her voice sharp and cold. She needed to keep herself under control if she wanted to go through with this. She couldn’t afford to break down. “If you want no part in this, I understand. No one will judge you, and you can do with this information what you please.”

“Is that—is that his Miraculous?” Alya hesitantly questioned. Ladybug followed her gaze to the once silver ring, now turned a stunning rose gold. Chat would’ve teased her about the color’s resemblance to pink with a warm kiss to her hand, and the thought made her tremble. _I’ll make him pay. No matter what._

“It is,” Ladybug answered. She didn’t trust herself to say much more without breaking.

Nino swallowed. His hand raised slightly, flexed, then lowered back to his side. “You’re going to use it, aren’t you? On Hawk Moth?”

Ladybug didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. Not with the way she hadn’t met her friends’ eyes since showing up. Maybe they’d never forgive her. Maybe they’d turn her into the police for suggesting such a thing. Or maybe they’d take the Miraculouses and wear them proudly by her side as avenging angels. 

Chat probably would’ve made a pun, followed by a wink and a small tip of his head. Ladybug would laugh, push him away by a finger to the tip of his nose, and warmed from head to toe at his delighted smile and fond shine in his eyes. Oh, how she’d taken that silly alleycat for granted. 

Alya reached out a hesitant hand and took her box, released Trixx, and slipped the necklace over her head. Trixx didn’t say a word as he hovered sullenly beside his Chosen. “I’m in,” Alya murmured.

That seemed to be all Nino needed to reach out and do the same. Wayzz tipped his head in a silent greeting before resting on the top of Nino’s hat. “So am I, but how do we find him if we don’t know who he is?”

Ladybug really tried to hold back the vicious sneer, but the surprise on her friends’ faces at the sound told her she failed. “I know exactly where he is.”

After concocting a rather flimsy plan, Alya and Nino called for their transformations, and soon the three took to the rooftops. Ladybug was the only one of them who knew their destination. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t tell them. She knew they’d find out soon enough, but keeping the secret somehow made her feel a little better about what they were going to do. She’d never liked Gabriel Agreste or Hawk Moth, but he was still her Kitty’s father. 

_ A loud clang resonated through the air as Hawk Moth’s cane crashed down against Chat’s baton, just before it was knocked aside. Ladybug flung out her yo-yo in a vain attempt to catch it before it slid off the tower’s edge and down toward the city below. _

Regardless, Gabriel needed to pay for what he did.

_ Her breath caught in her lungs at the sound of Chat’s pained cry, coupled with the crack of the cane colliding with his jaw. _

Hawk Moth would never hurt anyone ever again. It had only been hours since he landed the blow that would change her life forever, but Ladybug would make sure of it.

_ Every cell in her body froze as Chat’s foot slipped, his wide eyes locking on hers before disappearing over the edge. She knew she needed to move, to leap after him and save him, but it wasn’t until his terror filled shriek pierced through her ears did her body finally respond to her mind. “ **Chat!** ” _

She landed silently outside Adrien’s bedroom window and wiped away her tears before pushing open the glass. She knew it would be unlocked; her partner had spoken enough times about the window he used to sneak in and out as Chat Noir during an attack, or when he just needed an escape for a few hours.

Carapace and Rena Rouge still behind her, so she turned her head to see their shocked faces in her peripheral. Carapace was the first to acknowledge the horrible truth. “Ladybug, is—is Gabriel Agreste Hawk Moth?” 

Once again, her answer was short. Once again, she didn’t trust herself not to break if she said any more. “He is.”

There was a long silence before Rena growled, “That sick bastard.” 

She planned to continue forward, undeterred in her mission, but something caught her eye. The light from the moon reflected off of a picture frame on Adrien’s computer desk, and the air left her lungs in a sharp exhale.

“What is it?” Carapace questioned.

She didn’t answer. She hadn’t even realized she’d been walking toward it until she picked up the photo with shaky hands and blurry vision, her fingertips brushing across the smile she missed so, _so_ much.

A hand fell on her shoulder. “Ladybug?” Rena Rouge asked softly. “If you need to back out of this, we can handle—Oh.”

Ladybug’s free hand covered her mouth to smother her sob. Beneath the tear-streaked glass revealed a photo of Marinette and Adrien, his arm wrapped playfully around her shoulder. Alya had been the one to take the picture, but Marinette thought she was the only one of them who’d asked for a copy. 

She’d been so worried about getting Adrien to like her, when he’d been in love with her all along. She’d been too stubborn and blind to see the truth, and now her kitty was gone—and—and it was _her fault_ —

Any suspicions that Rena had figured out her identity were confirmed when she pulled the photo from Ladybug’s hands and set it face down on the computer desk. She pulled her friend into her arms and held her tightly, Ladybug clutching blindly at Rena’s suit as sobs racked up as down her fragile body. She’d lost her best friend and the love of her life all at once. If she’d just told him her identity that first day he asked, so long ago, all of this could’ve been avoided. They could’ve been together—they could’ve been happy—but Marinette had screwed it all up. 

She could hear the barely contained sob in Rena’s throat as she whispered, “I’m so sorry, Marinette,” just low enough so Carapace wouldn’t hear. At this point, Ladybug didn’t care if he did. She didn’t care about anything besides making Gabriel Agreste pay and wanting her  _ Chaton _ back.

Ladybug reluctantly pulled herself from Alya’s embrace, scrubbed at her eyes, and sniffed. “We can cry about Cha—Ad— _him_ later, but we have a job to do.” 

Rena nodded and called for a Mirage to shield the three from detection. “It’s like a type of camouflage,” she said. “We’re not invisible. Rather, an image of what’s behind us is displayed in front of us. It’s not full proof, but so long as we don’t move too much, we’ll be fine.”

They ran through their plan six more times before finally deciding to act. Rena Rouge would create an illusion, some kind of commotion in the kitchen to draw attention away from Gabriel’s office. Carapace had made the suggestion, saying, “He never leaves his office. If Nathalie’s in there, he’ll send her out to check out whatever’s going on. It’ll be a short timeframe, but I’ve seen Cataclysm work with less.” 

“That reminds me.” Rena turned to Ladybug with a frown. “Why didn’t you just transform into Lady Noir? Why use both?” 

Ladybug had an alterior motive, but she didn’t want to give anybody false hope. “It’s complicated,” she said instead.

Rena sighed. “Meaning you aren’t planning on sharing. Got it.”

Ladybug winced. “Are you ready?”

Carapace and Rena both nodded, so the latter quietly summoned her mirage. As expected, within less than a minute, Nathalie crept out of the office and straight toward the kitchen, Gabriel calling angrily behind her, “And find him!” 

She nodded quickly. There were bags beneath her eyes and her hair was down, a sight Ladybug had never seen before. She wasn’t taking the news too kindly, either. “Yes, sir.”

As soon as she’d disappeared toward the kitchen, Carapace shifted anxiously. “Now’s our chance,” he announced. “Let’s go.”

The moment they entered the office, Carapace locked the office door behind them. Gabriel leapt from his chair with a start. “What is the meaning of this intrusion? Having a Miraculous does not give you the excuse to break—“ 

Heart pounding angrily against her sternum, Ladybug drilled her fist into the failure of a father’s nose. Gabriel cried out, flinging a hand up to nurse the injury. 

_ She knew the Parisian civilians’ were screaming for their falling heroes, but all Ladybug could hear was her partner shrieking her name like a broken, scared child. That’s all they were, really. Chat Noir and Ladybug were teenagers—children—given a responsibility they shouldn’t have been given at such a young age.  _

_ Her yo-yo latched onto something—what, she didn’t know—and she reached toward her partner’s outstretched hand. Just a few more feet, and she’d have him— _

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the image and the rush of fear.

_ She didn’t remember him hittting the ground. One second, they were falling through the air, and the next he was a mangled mess of blood and broken boy on the concrete. She gently laid his head in her lap, scared of damaging him further, and watched the slow, dull fade of the miraculous magic washing over him. There was no bright light, no warm energy as the transformation completed and left the love of her life and her closest friend shattered in her arms. _

_ Another person landed beside her—Hawk Moth, she knew—and sucked in a sharp breath. “M-My son,” he whispered, and it would take another hour for Ladybug to process the implications behind those two damning words. _

She shoved the man before her to the floor, then clawed desperately at her pigtails. In a shrill voice, she cried, “Did you know he was still alive? The fall didn’t kill him immediately. I held him in my arms, covered in his—his _blood_ , and he was _still alive!_ I watched the light leave his eyes as the _l-life_ drained out of him because of _you!_

_ Blood trailed from Adrien’s mouth, and his eyes drifted between focused and unfocused on Ladybug’s. She knew she was shaking, sobbing, breaking in front of him when he needed her to be strong, but she couldn’t help herself. “K-Kitty?.” She needed him. She needed his puns and to see his radiant smile. She needed the loving way he stared at her when he thought she didn’t notice. She needed their late-night patrols, and all the times they found themselves holed up at the Notre Dame to avoid a storm, talking about anything and everything. She needed to hear his laugh again. She needed _him _._

_ “L-La—“  _

_ She choked and bit her lip to hold back another sob. She carefully cupped his cheek in her palm. She needed to tell him. He needed to know the truth. At least she could give him that. “M-Marinette, Kitty. I-I’m Marinette.”  _

Ladybug swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Tikki, Plagg, unify!” Electricity and warmth rush over her, more powerful than any of the Miraculous combinations she’d used in the past. She could feel creation and destruction in each hand, ready to do her bidding. Maybe what she planned to do was wrong, but neither Tikki nor Plagg had tried to stop her. “I’m going to watch the light leave your eyes as you fade to dust, Gabriel. You picked the wrong person to cross. Do you want to know why?”

Gabriel crawled back with a growl. “Nooroo, dark wi—“ 

She dropped to a crouch and slammed her right hand over his mouth. “Because I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I’m in love with your son.  _ Cataclysm!_“

Carapace gasped behind her, but she didn’t care that she’d revealed her identity to him. All she could hear were the strangled sounds leaving Gabriel’s throat as his face crumbled to ash from beneath her palm. She needed to focus, to concentrate on the energy from the combined Miraculouses. 

_ I wish to exchange Gabriel Agreste’s life for Adrien Agreste’s_, she chanted in her mind. She wished it with everything in her, even going so far as to whisper the words as the man before her faded away.

Chat’s ring and her earrings burned against her skin, a blinding mixture of pink and green light flashing behind her eyes. She screamed at the pain in her hand and ears before the searing pain in her head overpowered both. She could hear Rena and Carapace’s frantic calls behind her, but their voices were distorted, just before her vision went black

When she opened her eyes, Rena and Carapace hovered above her. She twisted her head away from the overhead office light and toward the man she’d just Cataclysmed, only to find a pile of black ash in his place with the butterfly brooch resting on top.

She gasped and flung herself into a sitting position. Rena and Carapace threw themselves backwards to avoid a collision. “How long was I out?” she cried.

Rena frowned. “Only a few seconds, but—“ 

She leapt to her feet and shouted, “I’ll be right back!” 

Rena Rouge scrambled to stand behind her with a call of, “Marientte, wait!” 

She was already out the window, adrenaline roaring through her entire being as she raced across the rooftops to where she and Chat met for Patrol; where she left Adrien after the accident in the hopes of her plan succeeding. She was sobbing, she knew, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was Adrien. 

Master Fu told her about the power of the combined ladybug and cat Miraculouses. He said it would grant the holder one wish, and by god she  _ wished _ . Adrien  _ had _ to be live. 

_ Please be alive. Please be alive. Please be—_

She let out a loud cry of relief when she spotted Adrien standing on the roof, staring down quizzically at his hands. He didn’t see her coming until long after she crashed into him, the two rolling across the roof until her back pressed against the ground. Adrien hovered above her with wide, beautiful green eyes. “Ladyb—“

She threw her arms and legs around him, clinging to him like her life depended on it. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that he was really okay. She just needed to be touching him, to have the physical confirmation that he wasn’t  _ dead _ anymore. She got him back!

She let out a loud sob into his neck. He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her, eventually maneuvering them so he was sitting with her latched onto him like a monkey in his lap. It felt like hours before she finally got ahold of herself enough to communicate.

She felt Adrien’s head tip to the side. “Bugaboo, why are you using both of our Miraculouses?” 

_Bugaboo_. She tightened her arms around him, just to feel the warmth of his tanned skin instead of the cold gray it was earlier, when she’d picked up his crumpled body and carried him to their rooftop. It had taken forever before she finally brought herself to leave him long enough to  _ bring him back. _

Adrien gently but forcefully pulled her back enough to see her face. Softly, he asked, “Ladybug, what did you do? How am I alive?” At her flinch, he sighed. “I’m sorry, that was probably insensitive. I just—I remember what happened, and I know I don’t feel the same way I usually do when your Miraculous Cure brings me back.”

She swallowed thickly. “J-Just l-l-let me hold you a l-little longer. Y-You’re going to hate me when I tell you.”

He leaned back again, this time to cup her face and force her to look at him. “My Lady, I could never hate you.” 

She placed her hands on top of his. “I found Hawk Moth and—and I traded his life for yours.” 

He sucked in a sharp breath of surprise, his hands on her face faltering, before his gaze set to one of determination. He raised her chin. “We can handle this. Did you use cataclysm, or do you need help getting rid of the—of him?” 

A weight lifted from her chest. Not only did he know what she’d done, but also offered to help her hide the crime. She knew he meant his words, but she had to remind of herself of  _ who’s _ body he had offered to get rid of. He wouldn’t feel the same once he knew. 

She gently pulled his hands from her face and looked down at them to avoid his eyes. She wished she could kiss him and hold him a little longer. She knew she wouldn’t be able to anymore, and no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t take advantage of him like that. She sighed and climbed off of him.

“My Lady? What’s wrong?” He reached out to her, but she backed out of reach and started to pace, despite every atom in her body screaming at her to crawl back into his arms. “Whatever it is, we can fix it.”

Her shoulders shook. She was terrified, and not of potential jail time, but of losing the most important person in her life. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that even if she lost him forever, at least he’d be alive and he’d understand why she did what she did, even if he didn’t accept it. Or forgive her. 

She steeled herself for rejection, closed her eyes, and forced her feet to stop their anxious trail. Her fists balled reflexively at her sides. “He was your father,  _Chaton_ , ” she whispered. “Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth.”

A long silence followed her confession. When she finally brought herself to open her eyes, she reeled back in surprise. Adrien stood directly in front of her before his arms wound around her. “I know, Marinette. I—I remember everything that happened, up until. . .” He trailed off. 

She clutched desperately at his back. “I love you, Kitty. I love you so much and I didn’t—I didn’t know I did until after you—you—“ 

Adrien rubbed a soothing pattern up and down her back, relaxing the tense set of her shoulders in a way only he knew how. “ _ Shhh _ , it’s okay. I love you, too. We’ll be okay.” 

She pulled back slowly, warmth flooding through every inch of her as he reached up to gently wide away her tears with the pad of his thumb. She leaned into his touch. “Why aren’t you angry with me? After what I did, you should hate me.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “My father. . . wasn’t a great father, but I loved him anyway. It wasn’t until I realized who he was, and watched him leave his son to die to protect his identity, that I realized how  _ bad _ of a person he was. Even after akumatizing so many people, I would’ve believed he could be redeemed, but l-leaving me—“ His voice broke. He paused, took a breath, and continued. “I wouldn’t have chosen to kill him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t agree with the decision to do so. Sending him to prison would’ve been difficult and could’ve taken years, just for the same outcome.” 

She frowned. “The same outcome?” 

Adrien’s eyebrows raised, and it was such a Chat-like expression that it threw her off. She’d had a few hours to come to terms with the idea of the two of them being one, but she hadn’t accounted for seeing one in the other. “He forced children to do horrible things. That wouldn’t go over well with other prisoners, not to mention his know-it-all attitude. If we went through the proper systems, he still would’ve wound up ticking off the wrong person in prison a few years down the line.” She let out a relieved sigh, glad to know she hadn’t lost her partner, to which Adrien smiled. “You should detransform and take a break. I’ll take you home.” 

She stiffened, then groaned. “I left Rena Rouge and Carapace with Gabriel’s ashes.” Her face fell. She told Rena she would come back, and she couldn’t just leave them to clean up the mess on their own. “I need to go back to them, but I don’t want you leave you out here.” She raised her eyes to meet his, an idea forming in her head. “I’ll take you to my place. You can stay with me tonight, if you don’t want to be home.” 

Truthfully, she just wanted to keep an eye on Adrien overnight. It seemed like the wish had worked, but Marinette was still afraid. She wouldn’t leave Adrien alone until she felt positive he was safe. 

Adrien modded and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He delicately tipped her chin up and pressed a small, chaste kiss to her lips before resting his forehead against hers. “We’ll be okay, L.B. I promise.”


End file.
